


Corra

by MilayaMilenZeal



Series: Long Live the Queen [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Amputated Limbs, Gen, Overcoming the impossible, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 17:04:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9773537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: M.E. 773 - M.E. 774When something seems to have become impossible, you’re supposed to strive for a way to make it possible again. This is the first time Regina experiences that phrase.





	

There are a few things that six year old Regina _really_ loves doing. She loves sleeping in (something her dad’s scolded her for in the past), she loves running (and Gladdy’s happy to provide her a ‘challenge’, though she never makes it far), and she loves camping. They don’t do it often, but when they do, Regina feels like they’re on the adventure of a lifetime. No day of camping is ever the same, and so she’s always looking forward to the moment they can go out and camp.

One of the many things that (usually) goes awry, is their car breaking down. Which was actually how they ended up having to camp out for the first time in the first place. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen much (anymore), which allows them to enjoy the camping trips as intended. But that doesn’t mean everything always goes as planned.

So too as they’re setting up camp  a little ways away from Hammerhead after meeting with Miss Cindy. There’s a tremor and Regina almost cries out, but her dad’s there to calm her down, thankfully, by wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Gladio’s assessing if there’s any damage after the tremor fades, and when there isn’t any, they all sigh in relief.

But it’s short-lived when Regina hears a cry from afar. No one else seems to notice at first, at least not until she points it out. They all then hurry off to the sound, certain that their camp will be safe for the time being. And when they do find the one responsible for the noise, Regina feels herself freezing up at the sight.

There’s a girl there, maybe a few years older than Regina, sitting up as best as she can, pushing feebly at a large rock that is now on top of her leg. It’s likely fallen on top of her when the tremor happened, and now she’s trapped there, unable to move it. Gladio and her dad immediately go over to help, and they know they have to hurry, because the sun is going to set soon, so the daemons will be coming out any minute.

Iggy is trying to calm her down, ensuring that she actually stays in place, and only Regina feels like she’s a burden, but she sticks close to Iggy, hoping that her presence there beside him will make things better somehow.

The rock is heavier than it looks, her dad exclaims after a while, and Gladdy is saying something about that he has to stop complaining and just keep pushing, but no matter how they push, the rock just isn’t moving and panic is starting to set in. They can’t keep trying for long, she knows; they need to get the rock to move somehow.

But the girl talks then and it makes her dad and Gladdy turn to her with their eyes wide. Regina doesn’t understand what she meant, but she said something about not moving the rock and about moving her instead. That seems kind of silly, because how can she move if the rock is on her leg? But Gladio doesn’t like the idea, and he’s very loud about it, but the girl insists, saying that it’s the only way to get out of there before the sun sets entirely.

Her dad is biting his lip, like he does when he’s nervous about something, and Iggy is frowning, while Gladdy is growling. Ignis is suddenly giving orders, and while her dad and Gladio look at him strangely for a moment, they don’t question him and start moving.

Regina watches as her dad pulls out a handkerchief and, strangely enough, puts it in the girl’s mouth and ties it behind her head, while Gladio does the same with her leg, though he uses his belt, instead. She doesn’t understand what they’re doing, but Iggy pulls her aside suddenly and pulls her up against him. She tries to break away, but Iggy isn’t letting go.

She twists her head, barely, and then she sees Gladdy pulling out the big sword he carries with him to deal with daemons. But what is he doing with that now? There aren’t any daemons around…

She hears her dad say something to the girl, and her voice is muffled because of the handkerchief so she doesn’t know what either of them are saying, but she can see Gladio raising his sword high above him.

…what is he…?

Then the sword comes down, and there’s a sound that she doesn’t recognize, but it’s followed by a loud, though muffled scream and red spurts over Gladio’s face and Regina freezes. She’s not a little girl anymore; she knows what the red stuff is now… and she knows what it means…

_Blood…_

She doesn’t know exactly what happens after; she might’ve passed out. That happens sometimes when she sees a lot of blood, though she doesn’t understand why. Thankfully there aren’t any dreams then, and her next conscious thought is waking up in the tent, cuddled up against her dad’s chest as he lazily but gently rubs her back.

When he sees her awake, he smiles and greets her softly, kissing her forehead and asking her softly if she’s feeling better. She feels a little better, but she’s still confused about what happened, though she doesn’t ask. She gets something to eat from Iggy (yummy!), before she takes notice of the girl resting at the far side of the tent.

She’s gasping, a wet towel resting over her eyes and forehead, and she’s also gripping at her blanket until her knuckles turn white. She looks like she’s in pain, but Regina’s too scared to ask why, because she remembers the blood, remembers the muffled scream, and it doesn’t help her fears at all. So Regina remains curled up against her dad, and he doesn’t complain or say she’s being silly. She appreciates that very much.

She looks to where the girl’s legs… well, _leg_ … is under the blanket.

“…is she okay, Daddy?”

Her dad doesn’t answer right away, before he smiles softly and runs a hang through her hair. “She will be… she will be…”

Gladdy comes in then, and he says he’s called Miss Cindy and she’ll come pick the girl up in the morning, since it’s too dangerous to get her to Hammerhead in the middle of the night. Regina’s not sure if the girl’s heard, or if she’s even awake… but she can’t help but hope that she’ll be okay…

 

She wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone groaning and whimpering, and Regina lifts her head sleepily to look around. She notices the girl turning and moving, trying to get comfy, and every time she’s hissing and whimpering and just… uncomfortable.

Regina knows the feeling all too well… and maybe that’s why she moves then.

She moves away from her dad, who’s too sleepy to even notice, and she crawls over to the girl. When she’s there, she shakes the girl lightly by the shoulder and she groans, before she wakes, rolls over and moves the towel, looking out through weary, dark eyes.

“…are you okay?”

She doesn’t answer immediately. Is she still tired? Did Regina mess up…?

But then the girl smiles softly, but it’s not a happy smile, though it’s not a bad smile ‘either’. “Define ‘okay’… if you mean ‘alive’, then, yeah, I’m okay… if you mean ‘bout my leg…well…” She laughs softly, but she doesn’t sound happy. “I won’t be able to run for a while now…”

“…run?”

She hums softly. “Yeah… I like running… I’m good at it, too… well, used to be, anyway…” she murmurs. “Won’t be doing that anytime soon anymore…”

Regina isn’t sure what she can say, so she pouts softly. She wants to help… but she doesn’t know how…

“…hey.”

“…huh?”

“What’s your name, sweetie?”

“…Regina.”

She’s not supposed to tell her name to strangers, but this girl is okay, right?”

“Heh… nice. I’m Ternio. You can call me Terry, if you want.”

“Terry??”

“Yeah… everyone does, really.”

“…kay.”

Regina’s finally able to smile again, and Terry’s reaching over and ruffling her hair lightly. They talk quietly for a while longer, with Regina talking about what she likes to do, but mostly she’s asking about Terry and how she likes (or liked…) to go running, and what she does other than that. Regina doesn’t have a real sense of time yet, but when she starts to yawn, Terry laughs softly.

“You should go to bed, Regi.”

“Kay…” She mumbles, scampering back to her dad. Once she’s curled up against his side, she looks over to Terry. “Are you sad…?”

“Sad…?”

“That you can’t run anymore…”

“…Regi,” Terry says with a small smile, “who says I can’t anymore?”

“But… you can’t run with one leg…”

“Well… if something’s become impossible… you just _make_ it possible again.”

“…how?”

“Oh, Regi, just wait and be amazed; you’ll be struggling to catch up before long.”

 

Miss Cindy picks Terry up in the morning, and she and Regina promise to meet again later to have a race, even though Regina’s not sure how that’s going to work with Terry only having on leg left… well, half a leg, really. But she promises anyway, and she watches as Miss Cindy drives off, and her dad pulls her back up to the Haven for breakfast. But even as she eats, Regina can’t help but think on Terry’s words;

“If something’s become impossible, you just _make_ it possible again.”

She’s never heard of those words, but then again, there’s a lot she hasn’t heard of at 6 years of age. She _does_ , however, know that, if she wants to make due on her promise to Terry, she can’t go lounging away. So every so often, she now goes out with her dad, running around the block a few times. She can’t go too far or too fast yet, and so her dad has to carry her most of the way, but she’s getting there. Every time, she’s getting a little better, until, _finally_ , she makes the whole block all on her own.

She doesn’t see Terry for another year, when they happen to be in Lestallum, and Regina is surprised when she’s walking. She has one of the medical poles or whatever they’re called tucked under her arm to help her, but she’s walking again, by herself. But Regina thinks the most surprising fact is that she has her leg again… what??

When they sit down at the small diner, all five of them, and talk about how she’s been doing, Terry says she’s doing okay, that she’s holding up and walking further and further every day. Regina asks how Terry has her leg again, and this makes Terry laugh. She reaches down then and, with a little bit of fiddling, _removes_ the leg… only it’s not real and Regina’s breathing a little easier.

Terry explains that it’s a fake to replace the one she’s lost, and when Regina knocks on it, it’s hard and kinda sounds like the wood walls from back home when she thunks her head against it by accident. There’s a cushion in it where it’s attached to what’s left of her leg, kinda like the bottom of a shoe, so it doesn’t feel too bad. Terry just says it’s taken a bit to get used to not having feeling in the one leg, because she said that, for a while, she still felt like the leg was there.

“In fact… I think I like… fell out of my bed three times in the morning ‘coz I tried standing on both legs when I hadn’t attached the thing yet!”

Terry is laughing, as are the others, but Regina isn’t sure if it’s okay to do so, though she does it anyway. Once the laughter is gone, Terry says she’s getting a new leg once she’s used to this, and she to be able to run on that one once she’s gotten used to it. Of course, it’ll take a bit, but Terry’s already practicing by speed-walking whenever she can.

Regina is surprised, and amazed, and in awe and just… Terry is amazing!

When they get home, Regina pushes herself to get better and better. She’s not going to lose to Terry!

A year later, they catch Terry running around Lestallum.

 

“C’mon, slowpoke!! Try to _at least_ give me a little bit of a challenge!”

“D-dammit…! I-it’s this sand, alright?!”

This is ridiculous! Regina’s struggling to keep up with Terry in the sand, and sure, there’s that age difference and the difference in experience, but Terry’s running on a damn prosthetic… and is _winning!_

How the hell?!

The finish is within sight, and Regina’s already out of breath despite having run laps around Lestallum with ease before then. She’s blaming the sand for holding her back and sinking below her feet; it’s like she has to give herself an extra push of energy with every step, and that extra push is draining her much faster than she would’ve liked.

She stops sprinting and settles on simple running for a little bit so she can collect a little more breath, but the Six be damned, how is this so _hard?!_

“Hey c’mon! I’m gonna win, Regi!” Terry taunts with a laugh, short red curls bouncing around her head.

“Oh no you’re NOT!!” Regina nearly screams as she gathers all her remaining strength and stamina and bursts forward after her.

She beats Terry by a fraction of a second and she collapses to the sand with a laugh when she does, not caring if Terry is laughing at her expense; she beat Terry ( _finally!_ ) and that’s more than enough for her now.


End file.
